OVERVIEW

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             Our mission is to build an automated two-point orientational discrimination (2POD) device for occupational therapists in order to expedite and reduce cost of sensation tests for peripheral nerve injury (PNI) patients. Design is already underway, and a functioning prototype will be completed by May 1st, 2020.

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Background

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              There are over 20 million people in the United States who suffer from PNIs each year. The patients often have typical symptoms of sensory loss and motor malfunction, and they overall spent approximately $150 billion annually in PNI rehabilitation and health care. The 2POD tests are one of the most widely used tests to quantify post-PNI recovery of sensibility, and they can effectively help occupational physicians to learn about the patient’s health-related quality of life. 

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Project GOal

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             The 2POD tests are performed by having two calipers at set distances run down a patient's finger pads at different degrees of skew, in order to determine at which angle the patient can no longer tell which side is the leading caliper. However, collection of data in current 2POD tests must be done manually and is thus time-consuming, expensive due to manpower, and susceptible to human error. Therefore, there is a need for a device to automate and expedite the data collection process that can enable efficient conduction of measurements with higher accuracy.

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